01:00 AM EST on Sunday, April 3, 2005

Sarah Hopper and David Coles

St. Michael's Church, Bristol

9.26.04

Sarah Hopper, 27, was born in Newport, when her father was in the Navy. The family moved to Germany and eventually back to Rhode Island, and Sarah went to Barrington High School. But when she graduated from Mount Holyoke College, she returned to her birthplace, to work in retail.

And it was in Newport, in May 2001, that Sarah was introduced to David Coles. A friend of Sarah's was dating a naval officer and wanted Sarah to meet a friend of his. "It was a weekday, I was tired, working a lot, and didn't want to go, but they talked me into meeting them at the Salvation Cafe." She and her friend waited and waited. "I finally said 'I'm going home! I can't believe you dragged me out here to meet someone who doesn't even show up.' At that moment, they walked in the door, and I was smitten."

Coles, now 28, was born in Japan when his father, a Marine Corps Seabee, was stationed there. His mother is from Guam and his family moved to the San Francisco Bay area when he was very young.

Sarah and David dated throughout the summer, while David attended the Naval Surface Warfare Officers School. At summer's end, he prepared to return to San Diego, where he was stationed. Not yet ready to be separated from Sarah, David asked her to drive to San Diego with him. "It turned out to be a great road trip, and two days after I flew back to Rhode Island, he called and said, 'Will you move to San Diego? I'm in love with you.' "

It took Sarah just two weeks to get all her belongings packed and shipped to California, and on the morning of September 11, 2001, she boarded a flight at T.F. Green Airport. "We taxied, then turned around and went back to the terminal."

David's fleet was deployed immediately; he didn't know how long he would be gone. "Just leave a key under the mat, and I'll get there some time," she told him. Two weeks later, she arrived, all alone in a new city.

"I found an apartment, walked into The Gap and was hired as a store manager, and by the time David returned nine months later, I had the apartment all painted and a new set of friends from work."

Today, more than half of the couple's 75 guests have traveled some distance to be there. The maid of honor lives in Paris, and another bridesmaid is flying in from Heidelberg. David's extended family is from California, and almost all of them have made the trip.

Two days after their wedding, David and Sarah will board a plane that takes them to Hawaii, Lieutenant Coles's new assignment. "My stuff is already there," says Sarah, "so I'm here with minimal clothes and a wedding dress." And there's a job waiting for her in Oahu: she has transferred with The Gap.